“Not only did I have a fascination with magic, but I had aspirations of becoming a magician when I was a boy.” Growing up in Queens, Brody would put on his own magic shows as “The Amazing Adrien.” In the case of his 2015 Emmy-nominated role in History’s Houdini, Brody had a genuine, personal passion for the fabled magician, having admired him since childhood.
When his narration confides "Some things can hit you in the gut worse than any punch," it's followed by quick-cut wallops, shown via special effects from inside skin and sinew, as the blows that will kill the man.As the youngest man ever to win a leading actor Academy Award (aged 29 for The Pianist, 2003), Adrien Brody has since then pretty much pleased himself when it came to choosing projects.
How about making Houdini a spy, tasked by the Secret Service to infiltrate the royal ranks of the World War I-era German kaiser and Russian czar? How about externalizing Houdini's psyche through narration and flashbacks? "Why was I so compelled to beat death? What was I trying to escape?" Here's a guy with a thing for his mother, and not enough of one for a wife (Kristen Connolly) who's increasingly alienated. From Hungarian Jewish immigrant (nee Erich Weiss) and rural Wisconsin teen to itinerant performer and eventual global superstar - not to mention his shocking death - what more could a story need? The American magician, escape artist and debunker of spiritual mediums lived from 1874-1926, yet still intrigues us a century later, a cultural icon who continues to command fame and wonder. Now add that potential to the known life of Harry Houdini.
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